Comments (0)

By Larry, April 15, 2018 11:19 am

DJ Scott Boyko Set One
Pacific Ocean – I Wanna Testify (VMC)
John Roberts – Sockin 1-2-3-4 (Duke)
Tony Borders – What Kind of Spell (South Camp)
Jimmy Soul Clark – If I Only Knew (Karen)
Joe Tex – I Don’t Play (Dial)
The Secrets – No Matter What You Do to Me
The Sapphires – I’ve Got to Have Your Love (ABC/Paramount)
New World Soul Choir – Keep a Talkin’ (Uni)
Spinners – Just Can’t Help But Feel the Pain (Motown)
The Larks – Mickey’s East Coast Jerk (Money)
Bettye Swann – Don’t Take My Mind (Money)

Listen/Download – Scott Boyko – Northern Soul Set One 3/31/18 64MB/Mixed MP3

__________________________________________________________________________________________

DJ Larry Grogan Set One
Roger and the Gypsies – Pass the Hatchet (Seven B)
Yvonne Fair – Baby Baby Baby (Smash)
Gentleman June Gardner – It’s Gonna Rain (Emarcy)
Sam Cooke – Shake (RCA)
King Solomon – Louisiana Groove (Cadillac)
Johnny Daye – I Need Somebody (Stax)
Johnny Wyatt – Everybody’s Goin’ Mod (Mustang)
Ted Taylor – (Love Is Like) A Ramblin’ Rose (Okeh)
Lonnie Youngblood – Go Go Shoes (Fairmount)
Billy Mack – Son of a Lover (Betty)
Chuck Edwards – Downtown Soulville (Punch)
Steve Colt and the 45s – A Little Bit of Soul (RCA)
Johnny Maestro – Come See Me (Parkway)
Chuck Berry – Back To Memphis (Mercury)
Koko Taylor – The Egg or the Hen (Checker)
Jimmy Hannah and the Dynamics – Leaving Here (Seafair/Bolo)
Lynne Randell – It’s a Hoe Down (Epic)
Billy Preston – Let the Music Play (Capitol)
Roy Lee Johnson – Boogaloo #3 (Josie)
Mr Wiggles – Fatback Pt 1 (Parkway)
Howard Peters – Soulville (Coral)
Bobby Newton – Do the Whip (Mercury)
Henry Lumpkin – Soul Is Taking Over (Buddah)
Mamie Galore – Special Agent 34-24-38 (St Lawrence)
Thelma Jones – Stronger (Barry)
Little Milton – Grits Ain’t Groceries (Checker)

Listen/Download – Larry Grogan – Northern Soul Set One 3/31/18 147MB/Mixed MP3

___________________________________________________________________________________________

DJ Scott Boyko Set Two
P.J. Proby – Niki Hoeky (Imperial)
Dick Whittington’s Cats – In the Midnight Hour (Round)
Johnnie Mae Matthews – Two Sided Thing (Big Hit)
M. Ali and J. Tucker – Shuffle With Ali (Diamond Jim)
Soul Brothers Six – You Better Check Yourself (Atlantic)
Dee Dee Sharp – Bye Bye Baby (Atco)
Kim Weston – You’re Just the Kind of Guy (MGM)
Chubby Checker – At the Discotheque (Parkway)
Jackie Lee – Bring it Home (Mirwood)
Bob and Earl – Dancin’ Everywhere (Mirwood)
The Delights Orchestra – Paul’s Midnight Ride (Atco)
Party Bros – Do the Groundhog (Revue)
Taurus and Leo – I Ain’t Playing Baby (Velvet Sound)
Garnet Mimms – Prove it to Me (UA)
Brothers of Soul – Hurry Don’t Linger (Boo)
Carla Thomas – Dime a Dozen (Stax)
Bobby Patterson – Soul is Our Music (Jet Star)
Wilmer and the Dukes – Get It (Aphrodisiac)
Leon Haywood – It’s the Last Time (Decca)
Jesse James – If You’re Lonely (20th Century Fox)
Panic Button – Hitch It to the Mule (Chalom)

Listen/Download – Scott Boyko – Northern Souul Set Two 120MB/Mixed MP3

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Larry and Scott close out the night going one-for-one
Incredibles – I Can’t Get Over Losing Your Love (Audio Arts)
The Commands – Hey It’s Love (Dynamic)
Mad Lads – Not Time Is Better Than Right Now (Volt)
Little Jerry Williams – Just What Do You Plan To Do About It (Calla)
Exciters – Blowing Up My Mind (RCA)
Tony Talent – Gotta Tell Somebody About My Baby (Vando)
Aldora Britton – Do It With Soul (Columbia)
Mad Men – African Twist (Gamble)
Zodiacs – Surely (Deesu)
Lee Dorsey – Tears Tears and More Tears (Polydor)
Trade Martin – Moanin’ (RCA)

Listen/Download – Larry Grogan & Scott Boyko go one-for-one Northern Soul 3/31/18 67MB/Mixed MP3

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Greetings all.

A few weeks back I was invited to bring my record box up to my man Scott Boyko’s Northern Soul night at (dig this) Northern Soul kitchen and bar in Hoboken, NJ.

I recorded almost the whole night, and what you see before you are two sets by Scott, one long set by me, and a shorter set at the end of the night where Scott and I go one-for-one trading off.

There is a grip of good music to be heard, so pull down the ones and zeroes and get hip.

See you next week.

Also, make sure to follow Funky16Corners on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Keep the faith

Larry

________________________________________________

If you dig what we do here or over at Funky16Corners, please consider clicking on the Patreon link and throwing something into the yearly operating budget! Do it and we’ll send you some groovy Funky16Corners Radio Network (and related) stickers!

_______________________________________________

Comments (2)

By Larry, November 9, 2014 3:45 pm

The Brothers/Silvetti

Listen/Download The Brothers – Are You Ready For This

Listen/Download Silvetti – Spring Rain

Greetings all

I hope you’re ready to get your groove on this week.

Having done a lot of reading about (and an exponential amount of listening to) the Northern Soul phenomenon over the last decade or so, something that I discovered – along with a grip of amazing music – is that the musical essence of that scene is not at as monolithic as you might think.

Surely there is a “Northern” sound, but if you dig into the annals, especially in the 1970s explosion in the UK, you discover that some of the DJs and the dancers had open minds (and ears).

Here in the US, where exposure to ‘Northern Soul’ is often tied directly to the mod/60s bag (hewing closer to the Manchester-based 60s scene at the Twisted Wheel, which was instrumental in the development of a rare soul scene in the UK), the idea of hearing a Philadelphia International side, or any other disco-identified sound, is all but blasphemous.

However, take a look at the playlists of many of the biggest Northern clubs in the 70s, and you alongside the ultra-rare Motown-influenced ish, you will also see records – then new – that many soul fans today would file off to the side as ‘disco’.

What a lot of people ignore (to their own peril) is that a much of the music associated with early disco culture is by any other name, soul music. Your anoraks/trainspotters/”experts”/killjoys will try to convince you that little after the end of the 60s is worth listening to, but like everyone else, they are wrong from time to time.

When they do that, they forget that Northern Soul was once a vibrant, living, breathing scene, and above all a dancer’s scene and if a record brought people out onto the floor, that’s all that mattered.

Today I bring you two examples of records that were created for disco dance floors and were absorbed into the Northern Soul scene.

The first, ‘Are You Ready For This’ by the Brothers is a solid, four on the floor dancer with the kind of sweeping, melodic string flourished that the soulies really dug.

The Brothers were a New York based studio creation, built around producer Warren Schatz and pianist Bhen Lanzaroni. Their 1975 LP ‘Disco-Soul’ was composed almost entirely of new versions of disco standards by groups like the Ohio Players (the LP features a very cool Hammond driven cover of ‘Fire’), Barry White, Disco Tex, Carol Douglas, and Gloria Gaynor, interspersed with originals by Lanzaroni and Schatz.

‘Are You Ready For This’ was released as a single in the US and the UK, and was picked up by UK DJs where it became a staple at clubs like the Blackpool Mecca (it also seems to have been a minor hit in New York City discos).

The second track I bring you today is ‘Spring Rain’ by Silvetti. Juan Fernando Silvetti Adorno, aka Bebu Silvetti, or just Silvetti, was an Argentinian composer/arranger/producer who had his biggest hit with ‘Spring Rain’ in 1977.

The record was a big hit in US and European discos, but was also brought into the Northern scene (to the consternation of many) by disco-friendly DJs like Ian Levine. Like ‘Are You Ready For This’, ‘Spring Rain’ has a strong beat, and wave upon wave of strings.

As time wore on, and new sounds became popular, and the idea of ‘soul music’ became more expansive – I hesitate to say ‘inclusive’ since there were/are many who would just as soon strangle you than hear a disco record – new terminology was adopted that allowed collectors and DJs to compartmentalize these records into their own genres, like ‘modern soul’, ‘deep funk’, ‘rare groove’ and ‘crossover’. Often times you’ll see announcements for allnighters and weekends in the UK and Europe where these tangential sounds will have separate rooms/dance floors devoted to them.

If you have an open mind policy (like we do here) it’s not at all hard to see the threads that link all of these categories, and to find your way back through their roots, stopping to savor the vast array of records that resist classification (often my favorite kind).

I hope you dig the sounds, and I’ll see you all on Wednesday.

Keep the faith

Larry

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived! The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock. They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US). Click here to go to the ordering page.

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (5)

By Larry, November 6, 2014 12:53 pm

Volcanos – Storm Warning (Arctic)
Homer Banks – A Lot of Love (Minit)
The Supremes – Love Is Like An Itching In My Heart (Motown)
The Four Larks – Groovin’ at the Go Go (Tower)
Maurice and the Radiants – Baby You’ve Got It (Chess)
OV Wright – Love the Way You Love (Back Beat)
The Spellbinders – Help Me (Get Myself Back Together Again) (Columbia)
Otis Clay – Got To Find a Way (One-Derful)
Mary Love – Lay This Burden Down (Modern)
Irma Thomas – What Are You Trying To Do (Imperial)
Bonnie and Lee – The Way I Feel About You (Fairmount)
The Marvelettes – I’ll Keep On Holding On (Tamla)
The Broadways – You Just Don’t Know How Good You Make Me Feel (MGM)
Darrell Banks – Our Love Is In the Pocket (Revilot)
The Facinations – Girls Are Out To Get You (Mayfield)
Barbara Banks – River of Tears (Veep)
The Cooperettes – Shingaling (Brunswick)
The Exciters – Blowing Up My Mind (RCA)
The Olympics – Mine Exclusively (Mirwood)
The Shirelles – Last Minute Miracle (Scepter)
Eddie Holman – Eddie’s My Name (Cameo/Parkway)
The Younghearts – A Little Togetherness (Soultown)
Jean Wells- With My Love and What You’ve Got (Calla)
Dean Parrish – I’m On My Way (Laurie)

Listen/Download Funky16Corners 10th Anniversary Pt5 – Northern Soul

Greetings all

The end of the week, and of the Funky16Corners 10th Anniversary celebration are both at hand.

I should remind you that the Funky16Corners Radio Show takes to the airwaves of the interwebs this and every Friday night on Viva Radio. You can also subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes, listen on your mobile device on the TuneIn app, or grab yourself an MP3 here at the blog.

The mix I chose to close out the week is near and dear to my heart.

Over the course of my soul fandom, stretching back 30 years, no sound has hit me as deeply as Northern Soul.

I’m not going to go into the roots of the sound here (I have in the past, to be sure), or provide a definition, other than to say these are records that combine hard-charging tempos and great melodies in uniquely exhilarating ways.

One need only listen to the mix all the way through to get the picture, as it were, but I suspect that even then, there are those that might take issue with some of the selections.

Northern Soul is a lot of things to a lot of people, and I approach the sound as someone who genuinely loves it.

Some of my very favorite soul records – in any genre – are key to this mix. These are records that lift you in every way, some crossing over into what can safely be described as pure musical bliss.

This is my favorite genre to listen to, and by far my favorite to spin for dancers as a DJ.

I thought it fitting that this was the mix to cap off the anniversary week.

I hope you dig it, and I hope you keep listening/reading as long as I still have something meaningful to say.

__________________________________________________________________________

Also, I had some groovy anniversary bumper stickers made, and they’re free to anyone that sends a self-addressed #10 envelope. I’ll cover the postage.

Send your sticker requests to:
Funky16Corners c/o Grogan
80 New Brunswick Ave
Brick, NJ 08724 USA

__________________________________________________________________________

I’ll see you all next week.

And, as always…

Keep the faith

Larry

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived! The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock. They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US). Click here to go to the ordering page.

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (3)

By Larry, February 25, 2011 11:02 am

Spindletop Northern Soul Pt4

Jackie Lee – The Shotgun and the Duck (Mirwood)
Judy Street – What (Grapevine)
Rodge Martin – Loving Machine (Bragg)
Olympics – Mine Exclusively (Mirwood)
JJ Barnes – Day Tripper (Ric Tic)
Bonnie and Lee – The Way I Feel About You (Fairmount)
Marvin Gaye – Baby Don’t Do It (Tamla)
Pieces of Eight – Come Back Baby (A&M)
Liberty Belles – Shing A Ling Time (Shout)
Tommy & Cleve – Boogaloo Baby (Checker)
Guitar Ray – Patty Cake Shake (Hot Line)
Gloria Jones – Tainted Love (Champion)
Jean Wells – With My Love and What You Got (Calla)

Listen/Download -F16C Spindletop Northern Soul Pt4 – 59MB Mixed MP3

Greetings all.

The week is coming to a close, and so is our little experiment.

I behooves me to remind you that the Funky16Corners Radio Show returns tonight at 9PM at Viva Radio. Make sure you tune in for the best in funk, soul, jazz and rare groove. If you can’t, make sure to stop by the blog over the weekend to  pick up the MP3 version of the show.

When you whip four separate Northern Soul mixes* on the blog on four consecutive days, you risk being accused of overkill.

That my friends is a risk I am ready and willing to take.

You see – and I don’t think I’ve discussed this before, at least in this way – Northern Soul, or at least much of the music that meets the sonic criteria to be considered part of the genre, is some of the most dynamic, exciting and above all accessible ‘soul’ music.

Though there are the occasional fringe records that fall inside the Northern bailiwick that manage to be danceable yet ultimately soul-less, they are the exception to the rule.

To lay it out in the simplest way possible, Northern Soul was mostly (important word, that) imitation Motown, or at least music that strove to imitate those labels that arose alongside of Motown in the world of stylish urban soul. By this I mean labels like Okeh, Brunswick, Mirwood, Harthon, Fairmount, Chess, Calla and any number of smaller Detroit, Chicago, Philadelphia, New York, Los Angeles labels (or points anywhere else on the musical map) where records with pounding beats, pop hooks and soulful vocals were being made.

When I was rapping with my man Perry Lane, I mentioned that my wife, a woman of exceptional taste but who would not normally be described as a soul fan, really digs the Northern sound. This is relevant because I’d say that most hardcore soul fans approach records with an agenda, whether it’s because a given 45 is cemented in a stylistic canon, coveted because of its rarity, or connected to a label, artist or other focal point.

When someone who is not a record collector finds themselves drawn to a genre that they wouldn’t identify, the chances are that they do so simply because they like the way it sounds. The music rises up from the grooves, through the stylus and the speakers and finds its way into the pleasure centers of their brain, and whatever part of the central nervous system that causes involuntary movement in the feet (tapping), hips (swaying) and head (nodding).

A lot of the Northern Soul records that I have either hit me retroactively (i.e. I grabbed them because I was collecting a certain group, label or region) or because I heard them first (by the original artist on a comp) or second (via a cover by groups like the Action, Artwoods, Timebox etc) hand but as I became acquainted with the genre and found my way into the canon I began to seek out records because of that and the new stuff coalesced with the things I already had and I discovered a sound or genre rising from the depths of my crates.

I realize that my attachment to this music comes at some distance, and that much of what made the movement exciting – the whole of Northern Soul culture in the UK – is part of the past, there’s something rewarding (as there is when you spin any collection of music that ought to be better known than it is for people eager to listen, and dance) about gathering these sounds and whipping them on people.

I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating, any DJ worth their salt carries with them the power packed in the grooves of records, and when you spin the right records at the right time, in the right sequence you release that power and pass it on to the people listening, and all that matters then is that good music that they may not have heard before is hitting those pleasure centers I mentioned a few graphs ago, and it is translated into smiles and movement and if you’re lucky someone picks up on it and wants to seek it out on their own and an obscure, 45 year old record, filled with talent and passion lives another day.

Because keeping the sound alive – keeping the faith – is what it (and this blog) is all about.

I hope you dig it, pull down the ones and zeros on this fourth installment and move, groove and feel it.

I’ll be back on Monday.

Peace

Larry

* All recorded live on 2/21/11 at Spindletop @ Botanica in NYC

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg for an unusual cover of one of the greatest records of the 60s.

Comments (2)

By Larry, February 24, 2011 10:24 am

Spindletop Northern Soul Pt3

Intruders – All the Time
Irma Thomas – What Are You Trying To Do
Sugarpie DeSanto – Go Go Power
Vontastics – Never Let Your Love Grow Cold
Little Carl Carleton – Competition Ain’t Nothing
Luther Ingram – If It’s All the Same To You Baby
Volcanos – Storm Warning
Mary Wells – Can’t You See You’re Losing Me
Darrell Banks – Our Love Is In the Pocket
Clydie King – ‘Bout Love
Four Larks – Groovin’ at the Go Go
Persionettes – It Happens Every Day
Cooperettes – Shingaling

Listen/Download -F16C Spindletop Northern Soul Pt3 – 59MB Mixed MP3

Greetings all.

Not a whole lot to add with today’s post, aside from the fact that Part three of the mix includes some real winners from Philadelphia, including an early 45 by the Intruders that hasn’t appeared in this space before in any form.

I should mention that I will be returning to Spindletop @ Botanica for some more record spinning on Monday March 21st, so if you’re in the area, stop by.

I also have a grip of groovy stuff all teed up for next week, and of course there’s the Funky16Corners Radio Show this Friday night at 9PM, so you might want to pencil that in as well.

I’ll be back tomorrow with the fourth and final installment of this live mix.

See you then.

Peace

Larry

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg for an unusual cover of one of the greatest records of the 60s.

Comments (4)

By Larry, February 23, 2011 10:42 am

Spindletop Northern Soul Pt2

Henry Lumpkin – Soul is Taking Over (Buddha)
Bob and Earl – Harlem Shuffle (Marc)
Sam Dees – Lonely For You Baby (Soul City RE)
Dean Courtney – We Have a Good Thing (RCA)
Barbara Banks – River of Tears (Veep)
R. Dean Taylor – There’s a Ghost In My House (VIP)
Billy Butler – I Bet You (Brunswick)
Betty Lavette – Feel Good All Over (Calla)
Fantastic Johnny C – New Love (Phil L.A. of Soul)
Bob and Earl – Dancing Everywhere (Mirwood)
Velvelettes – Needle In a Haystack (VIP)
Dean Parrish – I’m On My Way (UK)
Royalettes – Out Of Sight Out Of Mind (MGM)

Listen/Download -F16C Spindletop Northern Soul Pt2 – 59MB Mixed MP3

Greetings all.

Strap yourselves in because Part 2 of my live set from this past Monday’s Spindletop is here and it is packed from end to end with what the kids like to call ‘stormers’.

That’s right, solid, fast moving soul for the dance floor with the pounding drums, honking sax-o-mo-phones, ringing vibes, poppy hooks and of course soul clapping.

This is yet another half hour (in a series of four, like a smaller but much more tuneful set of encyclopedias) with several indisputable classics of this or any other genre, some even rising to the level of ‘anthem’.

As I was motoring around this morning, running my errands and what not I was listening to this very mix in the automobile, and as is often the case when I hear a record that means a lot to me, I start running through the rolodex in my big juicy brain (zombies beware), remembering where and when I first got my hands on some of these.

The other night I was talking to my man Perry Lane about how my musical sensibility was formed, especially in regard to soul music.

Unlike some folks, my musical tastes were not formed from whole cloth, arising suddenly like a volcano in a corn field.
As I have mentioned in this space countless times, the number one influence, especially when you’re talking about love of music in general is my father.

A teacher and musician, he always had music in the house and encouraged all of his children to be involved in music, whether it was by playing an instrument (which we all do with widely varying degrees of facility), singing around the piano at family gatherings or just plain listening, which when you’re talking about music is really the basic building block.

After that, I think about all of the people that have influenced me directly or indirectly over the years, sharing their musical passions with me as I have with them.

Big ups go out to my Mod soul brothers, Mr. Luther and Haim who first hepped me to countless amazing records.

Thanks also to the many DJs I have either spun records with or just befriended over the vast expanses of the interwebs.

First and foremost, the Asbury Park 45 Sessions crew (and the many guest selectors that have come to the Lanes to spin with us), DJ Prestige, Prime Mundo, M-Fasis, Bluewater, Devil Dick, and Jack the Ripper have packed a serious amount of musical knowledge and taste into the years we’ve been DJ-ing together. Not a single AP45 night has gone by without several new records being added to my want list. There never a shortage of lively discussion. It’s almost like an Oscar Wilde salon had been repopulated with wild-eyed, bearded, tattooed freaks, all clutching boxes of 45s in one hand and beer in the other.

Down in DC my man DJ Birdman – another cat who’s friendship dates back to the mod/garage days – has been a huge influence on the way I listen to disco and 70s soul.

Dudes like Mr. Finewine, Perry Lane, Agent 45, Tony C – as well as various and sundry members of the Soulstrut crew – have all turned me on to amazing music.

All it really takes is someone whose taste you hold in high regard to tell you ‘Check out this record’ and before you know it you’re off on a new tear.

Any fool can work their way through the internet and pick through set lists to see what records are popular, but it also takes a sense of what’s good (i.e. taste) to add records to those lists. It takes an overwhelming curiosity, and enough of a love of what you’re doing to keep digging.

Anyone that tells you they know everything about music, or have heard all the good records, is either 200 years old, or more likely, full of shit. Without generosity, humility and passion, and the excitement that comes from sharing good music, this all wouldn’t mean much.

That and having a wife and kids that love you enough to put up with having a whole room in their house devoted to records.

So dig the music, and pass it along so someone else can dig it too.

See you tomorrow with Part Three.

Peace

Larry

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg for an unusual cover of one of the greatest records of the 60s.

Comments (2)

By Larry, February 22, 2011 4:35 pm

One of my fave sides of the evening…

Spindletop Northern Soul Pt1
Dolly Parton – Busy Signal (Monument)
Maurice & the Radiants – Baby You’ve Got It (Chess)
Butlers – Laugh Laugh Laugh (Phila)
O’Jays – I Dig Your Act (Bell)
Chuck Jackson – Good Things Come To Those Who Wait (Wand)
Pat Lewis – Look at What I Almost Missed (Solid Hit)
Producers – Love is Amazing (Huff Puff)
Supremes – Love Is Like and Itching In My Heart (Motown)
Jimmy Ruffin – 96 Tears (Soul)
Platters – With This Ring (Musicor)
Players – Get Right (Minit)
Chris Clark – Love’s Gone Bad (Motown)
Betty Everett – Getting Mighty Crowded (VeeJay)

Listen/Download -F16C Spindletop Northern Soul Pt1 – 58MB Mixed MP3

Greetings all.

I hope you’re all well.

I’m ready for a nap, on account of I didn’t get home until 2:30 last night after having a fantastic evening spinning Northern Soul 45s at Spindletop @ Botanica in NYC.

If you’re in the area and haven’t checked out one of DJ Perry Lane’s Monday night fiestas, you’re really missing something. In addition to his own excellent taste in sounds he brings in a wide variety of guest DJs to whip their wax on the assemble multitudes.

I find it to be an especially groovy experience because I get to play whatever I want for an extended period of time, which is exactly how I like it.

I’m all for dropping a tight half an hour to forty-five minute set, but nothing beats being able to settle in with a box full of hot 45s for the long haul, building a wave and riding the crest for as long as the 45s and the vibe holds out.

Thus is the bag that I’m in when I hit the decks at Botanica.

Last night was an especially groovy experience for a few reasons.

First, I brought my favorite Northern Soul sides, a genre I don’t really get the opportunity to spin that often, especially over a period of a couple of hours.

Yours truly (right) and the legend, Matt Weingarden aka Mr Finewine

Second, none other than the mighty Mr. Finewine fell by and he brought Andy Noble of Kings Go Forth with him. Nothing like having a little funk and soul royalty in the house to get things going.

I was also able to record most of my set this time. Aside from some early technical glitches, I walked out of Spindletop last night with over two hours of soul grooves packed tightly onto the SD card of my digital recorder.

In spite of the fact that I was running on about three hours sleep today, I managed to finish up next weeks Funky16Corners Radio Show, and edited down the raw files from last night.

When I was done, I had broken it down into four sets, all around a half hour in length.

It took me a while to decide what to do with all this goodness, but in the end I figured I’d try something new.
So, what you’re going to get is a new half hour mix every day for the next four days in nice, manageably sized chunks.

When they’ve all been posted, you can string a few or all of them together in a playlist, flip your wig and cut yourself a nice piece of rug.

I’ll be returning to Spindletop on March 21st, so keep your eyes peeled for announcements in this space when that date gets closer. Of course you don’t have to wait until then to head down to Botanica. DJ Perry Lane does his thing every Monday night.

That said, I’m going to go pass out somewhere.

See you tomorrow with Part Two.

Peace

Larry

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg for an unusual cover of one of the greatest records of the 60s.

Comments (13)

By Larry, June 8, 2010 3:33 pm

Miss Gloria Jones

Listen/Download – Gloria Jones – Tainted Love

Listen/Download – Judy Street – What

Greetings all.

The middle of the week is here, so what better time for a couple of very tasty bits of Northern Soul (with a very interesting backstory)?
As someone who experienced the 80s firsthand, I have to admit that I don’t find nostalgia aimed in that direction all that entertaining, especially since so many of the nostalgic aren’t old enough to have weathered it the first time.
You see, alongside MTV, crazy haircuts and quirky new wave music, there was of course the reality of the Reagan era, during which the American right kicked open the door and let in the wide variety of religious and political pests that 30 years down the line have completely infested this country.
So, you’ll understand if I’m not in my garage slapping together a time machine so that I can take the ride all over again.
This is not to say that the music was all bad, since a lot of it was very good. The best of new wave was in essence high quality reworking of the 60s pop palette.
One of the biggest new wave hits, that has become a major musical symbol of the era, is Soft Cell’s 1981 hit ‘Tainted Love’.
I’ll even cop to digging it the first time around, years before I had any idea that it was a synthesized reworking of a Northern Soul anthem.
In fact, a few years on, during the whole mod/garage explosion of the mid-80s, when I was initially clued in to the fact that the song had originally been recorded by a singer named Gloria Jones, I was still a decade away from even the tiniest inkling about the existence of the Northern Soul movement.
As a result, I didn’t consider Soft Cell’s covering of ‘Tainted Love’ to have any more subtext that Phil Collins’ execrable mangling of the Supremes’ ‘You Can’t Hurry Love’.
Flash forward twenty-five odd years and yours truly is neck deep in the sounds of the Northern movement, with all manner of storming Wigan faves spilling out of my record boxes. I’m rambling around YouTube looking for videos of Northern Soul dancers (and of you haven’t seen them, you simply must on account of it’s a wild bag that they were/are in) and I happen upon a short documentary that featured lots of the acrobatic terpsichorian delights.
About six minutes into the video a song came on the soundtrack that knocked me on my ass with its propulsive tempo and pop hooks. A little bit of the Googling, and I discover that the record in question was called ‘What’ by a singer named Judy Street.
A little more exploration on the interwebs and I found myself a copy of same, since I wanted to give it a good home and hear it blasting over some of those big club speakers we all love so much.
Once I had my hands on the 45 (a 1977 era reissue, but more on that in a minute) I started digging into my reference books, and back on the web and I discovered something very interesting about ‘What’, that were I a bigger Soft Cell fan, or a resident of the UK, I might have already been aware of, that being that the group had their second UK hit with this very song, which, not at all coincidentally was also a huge Northern Soul anthem.
‘Hmmmmm…’ says I, realizing that I was going to have to dig a little bit further.
Two hits in a row by one of the great synth-pop acts of the 80s, both yanked from the Northern Soul canon was indeed a curious thing.
As it turns out, aside from the odd juxtaposition of styles, it wasn’t that curious at all.
But first, a little musical history.
Gloria Jones was still a teenager when she was discovered by songwriter/producer Ed Cobb (who also penned ‘Every Little Bit Hurts’ for Brenda Holloway) in 1964. The following year she recorded Cobb’s ‘Tainted Love’ for the Champion label.
Jones’ version of the song was – when I finally heard it – a real shocker, every bit as propulsive and soulful as the Soft Cell cover was wan, dissipated and blasé. It was immediately obvious how it had become a very popular spin on the dance floors in the North of England.
Jones went on to record a stack of 45s for Uptown and Minit in the 60s, eventually going on a European tour with the cast of ‘Hair’, where she met none other that former ace face converted into post-psychedelic mushroom gobbler Marc Bolan of T-Rex. She and Bolan fell in love and had a son, performing together until his untimely death in 1977, after which Jones returned to the US and recorded both as a solo and as a backing vocalist.
Jones was herself a songwriter, composing a number of songs for Motown artists, co-writing ‘If I Were Your Woman’ for Gladys Knight and the Pips.
There isn’t much information out there about Judy Street. Her original version of ‘What’ was recorded for HB Barnum’s LA-based Strider label in 1966 (I’ve never seen a picture of the original label), and promptly dropped off the face of the earth. Interestingly enough there was another (inferior) recording of ‘What’ by Melinda Marx (daughter of Groucho, seriously) on VeeJay. Come 1977, and Judy Street’s recording is a popular Northern Soul spin, so much so that John Anderson reissued it on his Grapevine label, where it went on to become the label’s biggest selling 45.
It was during this time period that a young lad named Marc Almond was (according to famed DJ Russ Winstanely) a habitue of the storied Wigan Casino, where he first heard, requested and danced to the records you see before you this fine day.
A few years later, he had the good creative sense to cut a small but significant segment of one scene and paste it on top of another, creating two pop hits (one huge, one not so much). Chances are while any number of soulies were poleaxed when they heard Soft Cell’s ‘Tainted Love’ and ‘What’ on their radios (or saw them on Top of the Pops), the vast majority of the pop audience had little or no inkling of where these songs had come from, or that so many of their countrymen and women had been dancing to the original versions of these songs for years.
I don’t know about you, but I find this kind of cross-pollination to be very interesting, and the kind of thing that the post-modern, post-internet, post-everything else culture has all but erased. Would such a scenario be possible today, where McLuhan’s Global Village has rendered international communication and sharing of obscure facts but a mouse-click away? I doubt it.
Either way, I hope you dig the tunes and I’ll see you all on Friday.

Peace

Larry

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg for some psyche pop

PSSS Don’t forget to hit up Funky16Corners on Facebook

You can also follow Funky16Corners on Twitter

Comments (2)

By Larry, April 21, 2019 8:02 am

Ronnie Milsap

Listen/Download – Ronnie Milsap – Ain’t No Soul Left In These Ole Shoes MP3

Greetings all.

Today’s selection is one of my favorite versions of one of my favorite songs (great how is works out that way, n’est ce pas?).

Ronnie Milsap was one of the biggest country stars of the 1970s and 1980s, but believe it or not he got his start as a soul singer.

Milsap, who was born almost completely blind, learned how to play the piano, and though he was supposed to go to law school, he left his academic pursuits behind for a career in music.

He was lucky enough to sign with Scepter records, and managed to score his first hit with the Ashford and Simpson tune ‘Never Had It So Good’ (backed with another of their songs ‘Let’s Go Get Stoned’) in 1965.

His follow up was the first recording of Artie Resnick and Joey Levine’s ‘Ain’t No Soul (Left In These Old Shoes), which would go on to be something of a 1960s soul standard with recordings by Major Lance, the Corvairs, Kenny Bernard, and Tami Lynn among others.

Milsap’s version is among the rawest of them all, starting out with a fuzzy combo organ, prominent drums and a wailing vocal by Milsap. The arrangement by Tommy Kaye is fantastic, with a great horn chart and a hard-charging tempo that made the record a huge fave on Northern Soul dance floors in later years.

Milsap kept a bit of R&B flavor in his later successes, yet nothing as full on soulful as this.

I hope you dig the tune, and I’ll see you all next week.

Also, make sure to follow Funky16Corners on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Keep the faith

Larry

________________________________________________

If you dig what we do here or over at Funky16Corners, please consider clicking on the Patreon link and throwing something into the yearly operating budget! Do it and we’ll send you some groovy Funky16Corners Radio Network (and related) stickers!

_______________________________________________

Comments (0)

By Larry, July 8, 2018 9:44 am

DJ Scott Boyko – Art All Night Live

1. Roy Hytower – It Must Be Love
2. The Continentals – Dog Time
3. Jesse Gresham Plus 3 – Shootin’ The Grease
4. The Emperors – My Baby Likes to Boogaloo
5. Jomo – Uhuru (African Twist)
6. Jimmy Castor – D-R-Y
7. Recitations – Make the Funk Jump
8. C. Smalls & Co. – Keep On Groovin’
9. The Mandells – Don’t Turn Your Back On Me
10. Billy LaMont – Sweet Thang
11. King Solomon’s Advisers – The Tight Rope
12. The Invaders – Wildroote
13. Dale Kahr & Christy Boughn – Black Is Black
14. The Hi-Lads – Ready Or Not Here I Come
15. The Boys In The Band – (How Bout A Little Hand For) The Boys In The Band
16. Lunar Funk – Space Monster
17. The Bar-Kays – Dance, Dance, Dance (Part 1)
18. The Soul Searchers – We The People (Part 1)
19. Little Royal – Razor Blade

Listen/Download – DJ Scott Boyko – Art All Night Live – 115MB Mixed MP3

__________________________________________________________

Greetings all.

The Funky16Corners 2018 Allnighter/Pledge Drive aka The Summer of Soul 2 has begun!

We continue this year’s Summer of Soul mix series with a new mix from my Asbury Park 45 Sessions compadre DJ Scott Boyko.

I had the great pleasure of spinning with Scott at his Northern Soul @ Northern Soul night in Jersey City. He has heavy crates packed with soul and funk and excellent taste.

This mix was recorded live on 6/16/18 at the Art All Night event in Trenton, NJ.

We will continue with a new mix every week for the duration of the summer, with a selection of stellar contributions from some of my (and your) favorite selectors including DJ Prestige, Ben Gibson, DJ Prime Mundo, DJ RP of Funkdefy, Vincent the Soul Chef, Chris Lujan of the M-Tet, DJ Bluewater, HeavySoulBrutha Dave B. and new contributor, DJ Scott Boyko (with possible DJs yet to be named!).

The pledging will continue this year with Patreon (click here or on the logo below to go to the Funky16Corners page) , where you will be able to spread your contributions out over the entire year, which will help cover the ongoing server/broadcast/hardware expenses. This year has seen the move to 100 percent live broadcasting (Mixlr.com/Funky16corners)  and continued hardware and software upgrades at Funky16Corners central, to keep the radio/podcasting experience as seamless and groovy as possible. So please dig deep so we can continue to do the same, and if you’re already a Patreon donor, please accept my heartfelt thanks!

In addition to all the broadcasts and the blogging all of the Funky16Corners and Iron Leg mix archives will continue.

I am also including a Paypal donation button (below) if you’d rather donate in a lump sum instead of the rolling donation in Patreon.

Don’t forget, my weekly radio show for WFMU’s Give the Drummer Radio, Testify! is on the air live, every Wednesday night from 10-12. If you dig Funky16Corners and/or Iron Leg I think you’ll dig it. So tune in when you get a chance!
_______________________________________________

So, download and dig the mix, keep digging the radio shows, and we’ll be back next week with another groovy mix.

Also, make sure to follow Funky16Corners on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Keep the faith

Larry

____________________________________________________________________________

PS Head over to Iron Leg when you have a minute!. <

Comments (0)

By Larry, February 4, 2018 11:51 am

Precisions – If This Is Love (I’d Rather Be Lonely) (Drew)
The Soul City – Everybody Dance Now (Goodtime)
Mary Love – Lay This Burden Down (Modern)
Dorothy Berry – Shindig City (Planetary)
Incredibles – I Can’t Get Over Losing Your Love (Audio Arts)
Theresa Lindsey – I’ll Bet You (Golden World)
Corvairs – Ain’t No Sole In These Old Shoes (Columbia)
Marketts – Stirrin’ Up Some Soul (WB)
Taj Mahal – A Lot of Love (Columbia)
Producers – Love Is Amazing (Huff Puff)
Eddie Holman – Eddie’s My Name (Parkway)
Four Larks – Groovin’ at the Go Go (Tower)
Betty Lavette – I Feel Good (All Over) (Calla)
Barbara Banks – River of Tears (Veep)
Chuck Wood – Seven Days Is Too Long (Roulette)
Mary Wells – Can’t You See (You’re Losing Me) (Atco)
Marvelettes – I’ll Keep Holding On (Tamla)
Mickey Lee Lane – Hey Sah Lo Ney (Swan)
R Dean Taylor – There’s a Ghost In My House (VIP)
Ike and Tina Turner – Somebody Needs You (Loma)
Marvin Gaye – One More Heartache (Tamla)
Edwin Starr – Back Street (Instrumental) (Ric-Tic)
Sugar Pie DeSanto – Go Go Power (Checker)
Monitors – Number One In Your Heart (VIP)
Rex Garvin and the Mighty Cravers – I Gotta Go Now (Up On the Floor) (Like)

Listen/Download – So Much Soul F16C Live at Reggae Got Soul 1/21/18 MP3

Greetings all.

What you see before you is a live set that I recorded a few weeks back at Reggae Got Soul, a very groovy recurring night at the Asbury Park Cigar and Tobacco Co in (you guessed it) Asbury Park, NJ.

The night is run by my man Jay Boxcar, who you may remember as a charter member of the Asbury Park 45 Sessions crew.

I hadn’t been out DJing live in a long, long time, so the opportunity to do so, especially in a chill setting right around the corner (OK, not literally, but less than 30 minutes away) was irresistible.

Since it had been so long, I decided to whip together a box full of Northern Soul faves. Nothing beats hearing some of these records played on a nice, loud sound system.

The evening started with Jay whipping a little reggae and ska on the room, after which I hit the decks, and then DJ Scott Boyko opened up his 45 box and closed things out in style.

I’ll be returning to RGS on February 10th with a box full of New Orleans funk and soul to help celebrate Mardi Gras, so if you’re in the area, tip on in.

See you next week

Also, make sure to follow Funky16Corners on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Keep the faith

Larry

________________________________________________

If you dig what we do here or over at Funky16Corners, please consider clicking on the Patreon link and throwing something into the yearly operating budget! Do it and we’ll send you some groovy Funky16Corners Radio Network (and related) stickers!

_______________________________________________

Comments (0)

By Larry, September 3, 2017 11:14 am

Funky16Corners Soul Party A Go Go

Andre Williams – Soul Party A Go Go (Avin)
Bob Kuban Explosion – Jerkin’ Time (USA)
Kip Anderson – A Knife and a Fork (Checker)
Citations – Chicago (Mercury)
Eddie Bo – Shake Rock and Soul (Cinderella)
Oliver Sain – Jerk Loose (Checker)
Magnificent Malochi – Mama Your Daddy’s Come Home (Brunswick)
Larry Johnson – Mercy (Zorro)
Soupy Sales – Nitty Gritty (ABC/Paramount)
Alvin Cash and the Crawlers – The Barracuda (Mar V Lus)
Chuck Berry – Back To Memphis (Mercury)
Billy Preston – Hey Brother (Capitol)
Johnny Daye – I Need You (Stax)
Billy Graham and the Escalators – Ooh Poo Pah Doo (Atlantic)
The Foundations – Jerkin the Dog (Uni)
Howard Roberts – Florence of Arabia (Capitol)
Howard Tate – Stop (Verve)
Joe Simon – Come On and Get It (SS7)
Johnny Maestro and the Crests – Come See Me (Parkway)
Tender Joe Richardson – I Ain’t Going For That (Hot Biscuit)
Jackie Wilson – Hold On I’m Coming (Brunswick)
Ronnie Milsap – Ain’t No Soul (In These Old Shoes) (Scepter)
Objectives – Love Went Away (Jewel)
Fats Domino – If You Don’t Know What Love Is (ABC/Paramount)
Other Brothers – Hole In the Wall (Modern)
Russell Evans and the Nighthawks – Send Me Some Cornbread (Atco)

Listen/Download – Funky16Corners Soul Party A Go Go 117MB Mixed MP3

__________________________________________________________

Greetings all.

Welcome to Part Eleven of the Funky16Corners 2017 Allnighter/Pledge Drive aka The Summer of Soul!

This week we have the traditional closing mix of the festivities from your’s truly.

I got things started this year with a selection of Northern Soul, and I’m closing things out with a mix of dance floor movers, party starters, soul jazz and Hammond groovers.

The fundraising aspect of the 2017 Summer of Soul hasn’t been all that encouraging.

Whether it was the change in format, the switch to Patreon, or just a general lack of interest, I can’t really say, but if you were waiting for an appropriate time to toss something into the mix, now would be it.

So dig the sounds, and make sure to click on the Patreon button to help keep the lights on here at Funky16Corners! Fundraising up to this point has not been very encouraging, so please do what you can. It is as always greatly appreciated.

________________________

The fundraiser will also take a slightly different form this year, moving to Patreon (click here or on the logo below to go to the Funky16Corners page) , where you will be able to spread your contributions out over the entire year (i.e. if you pledge 12 bucks, it doles it out a dollar a month over the course of a year), which will help cover the ongoing server/broadcast/hardware expenses. This year has seen the upgrade of a couple of crucial pieces of equipment, and any help you fine people can provide will keep the machinery moving here at Funky16Corners central.

So please dig deep so we can continue to do the same!

In addition to all the broadcasts and the blogging all of the Funky16Corners and Iron Leg mix archives will continue.

As I have mentioned recently, the changes to the general format here are as thus – The concentration of the operation will continue its shift to podcasting/radio, with the Funky16Corners Radio Show originating every week as a live broadcast, Thursday nights at 9PM Eastern on MIXLR, and will continue to be posted as a downloadable podcast every Friday, and broadcast in the UK on Cruising Radio.

The Iron Leg Radio Show will also move to a monthly live broadcast (day to be determined) also on MIXLR and will continue to be broadcast on Cruising Radio in the UK.

Don’t forget, my weekly radio show for WFMU’s Give the Drummer Radio, Testify! is on the air live, every Wednesday night from 10-12. If you dig Funky16Corners and/or Iron Leg I think you’ll dig it. So tune in when you get a chance!
_______________________________________________

So, download and dig the mix, keep digging the radio shows, and we’ll be back next week with another groovy mix.

Also, make sure to follow Funky16Corners on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Keep the faith

Larry

____________________________________________________________________________

PS Head over to Iron Leg when you have a minute!. <